Tightening devices for garments, particularly trousers, have been well known for many years, and in this sense mention should be made of the U.S. Pat. No. 1,017,544, dated 13 Feb. 1912, in which the tightening device has a buckle, similar to that of a conventional belt, but which does not close over itself as in the case of belts but which, rather, is formed by two separate parts which, together, affect only around half of the waist band of the trousers and are attached to the latter by buttons and button holes.
The appearance and the features of this tightening device provide the user with more or less the same performance as that of a conventional belt.
A more developed tightening device appears in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,594, dating back to 1987, in which the device uses a couple of loops on the trousers and materializes in a simple strip which, at each end, has “Velcro®” type adhesive elements which can be fixed to the respective loops by folding the strip back on itself. This solution is uncomfortable to use and is designed more as an aesthetic device than as a tightener, being used normally in pairs on both sides of the waist and comprising, in essence, an aesthetic element which improves the appearance of the garment at the waist but which does not participate in tightening the garment to stabilize it on the user's body.
A more recent solution is that shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,397, which is a genuine tightener, which uses a couple of loops on the garment but where, in this case, the tightener materializes in two parts in the form of rings which are fixed to said loops. Attached immovably to one of these rings is a kind of belt which passes through the corresponding part to the other loop, doubling up on itself and becoming stabilized with the collaboration of a kind of central buckle. In this case, too, the result is a tightener with the appearance of a classic belt, particularly when the user's trousers are hidden on the side by the corresponding or complementary jacket. Moreover, due to the system of fastening to the loops, it means that these are on the whole visible and undergo noticeable deformation, due to the pulling effect of the tightener, which has very negative repercussions on the appearance of the whole.
The applicant is the title holder of the invention patent P 200502173, in which he describes a tightener for garments formed by a central element which represents the support for the decorative development of the tightener, a central element of any appropriate length extended at each end with its respective tying or hooking elements which can easily be passed through the respective loops, being attached to the latter of doubling up on themselves, once again reaching the central element to be tied or fixed behind it, all of that with the necessary tension to achieve the sought-after tightening effect.
With this solution, substantial improvement is achieved both in the appearance and handling of the tightener, even though there is still a series of problems such as the visibility of the loops used and the means of fastening the device to them, the impossibility of adjusting the tightener in terms of length, the difficulty in adapting it to the waist profile, particularly when the loops are far apart, as well as other problems which will become evident during the following description.